Lorenzo Giribaldi all’alba del 1848. Eroe o avventuriero?

Two articles defaming the upper class in Pinerolo, a political pamphlet against king Carlo Alberto and a life full of expedients that were often unscrupulous, led to the opening of an investigation file on Lorenzo Giribaldi in 1844. Initially, he used his passion for art and literature – as well as his ability to create lifelike depictions – to target lawyers, ladies, mayors and many other high-ranking people. Later, he used his historical and political knowledge to defame king Carlo Alberto, pope Gregory XVI and all the other sovereigns in the Italian Peninsula. The paper, through the analysis of the documents under investigation and the files from the Turin Police Department, outlines a man who was as ambiguous in his behaviour as cunning in his deeds: a hero who followed Mazzini, a progressivist and an advocate of the Italian independence on the one side, he could also be an Austrian spy and an unscrupulous fighter on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]